Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane

"The Box"

How about this? The esteemed Pauly D, of Words for My Enjoyment fame (and who's hair is the exact same color as John Travolta's -- Moravian Waterchestnut, for those curious), got a TV show bought by ABC. We here at SRWU wish PD the greatest of success and the sincere hope that his show doesn't suck!

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

There is a distinct possibility that Aaron Sorkin is the name directly after George Clooney on the "See? Hollywood really is run by a bunch of liberals?" Republican talking points list.

And I'm pretty much cool with that.

After watching two episodes of his newest show, Studio 60, I got that feeling in my stomach that I sometimes get when I finish watching something that absolutely lives up to the potential you built into it. Where you just sort of look at the screen when it's over and say, "Hell yes!" before realizing there isn't anyone else in the room. It doesn't happen very often. I'm thinking the last 5 episodes of Six Feet Under, the last season of The Wire... The second and fourth seasons of The West Wing... yeah, that's about it.

And I had some trepidation about this show. First of all, I was worried about if Sorkin would devolve into a sort of frivolity in this particular setting. I mean, there's a lot to skewer in Hollywood, and Sorkin's been sort of hellbent towards skewering politics for so long that it was realistic to think that this show could lose something because it lacked the import of his previous subject matter.

But, what's happened here is that he's found the perfect mix of the sincerity and cutting edge, current events-laden banter of The West Wing with the silliness and fun of Sports Night (a show which I still wish was on the air, but in a "everything works in in the long run" twist would have denied us The West Wing). What comes out of it all is a a smart, biting satire in a setting that EVERYONE is familiar with (The 30-year-old SNL model).

That's a shrewd move on Sorkin's part. My dad remembers SNL when it was the most important satire on television. I remember SNL when I thought it was funny (but when my Dad probably didn't) and while The Daily Show may have replaced SNL as the important show, even people of the generation just after me have a knowledge of the show.

Within this are some standout performances. I always thought that Matt Perry's turn on The West Wing was underrated. He managed to be so understated that the charm that made people love Chandler Bing found a center, sort of like when PTA harnessed Adam Sandler's anger into a character we could identify with rather than just laugh at in Punch Drunk Love. That character has given birth to his Studio 60 character, and through two episodes he's really, really good.

Brad Whitford is, well, he's Brad Whitford. He's one of those guys that just does Shakespere the way it was meant to be played.

(Side note: I always thought that it would have been interesting if Richard Shiff and Brad Whitford had filled the Casey and Dan roles in Sports Night. Can't you just imagine Shiff scaring the shit out out of everyone while Whitford tries to hold it together before he finally blows his top? I'm just saying, it could have been interesting...)

Judd Hirsch's role in the first episode, as the show executive producer who blows his top and goes Network on live tv, was exceptional. I've heard people say things like, "What a great cameo he had," but surely Sorkin's got more plans for him.

The rest of the characters:

I like Amanda Peet. I really do. I don't normally like her, but I sort of like an impish quality in my major studio presidents. I know some people have disliked her so far, but I give her a thumbs up.

The girl that plays Harriet, the supposed star of the show who is Perry's former love interest (I'm too lazy to look up the actresses name)... I've heard it said that she is modeled after Kristen Chenowith and I'm just thinking, um, why not just get Kristen Chenowith. I'm not impressed thus far...

D.L. Hughley... I think this is his coming out party. Seriously... the boy's got chops.

Steven Weber... It just gives comfort to my soul that so many of the Wings alumni are finally getting roles. Although I'm pretty sure that I can do without a Crystal Bernard resurfacing.

Anyway... I'm glad Sorkin's back, I'm glad the show is good... because I missed things like this:

Matt: You know this thing is all over talk radio?
Danny: What do you expect?
Matt: A caller from Taluca Lake called us Barbra Streisand loving, Michael Moore worshiping jackasses.
Danny: What have I always told you about listening to showtunes?
Matt: Don't do it.
Danny: Don't do it.

Incidentally, with a Gilbert and Sullivan siting and a character named "Danny" out of the way, there are quite a few other things to watch for:

• The phrase, "I really am quite something."
• A character named "Tillinghouse"

Idol TV Chatter

American Idol

A pretty lackluster week on American Idol with the fairly boring Stevie Wonder theme.  Why is it that someone as great as Stevie Wonder just can't be duplicated when people try to sing his stuff? Sub-question: Is it better to flame out or to fade away?

The only thing redeeming about this episode was Kevin Covais singing "Part Time Lover."  I WAS this kid when I was 16.  From his good-natured joking about being a sex symbol, to hamming it up on the out of character song to his absolute throttling of Simon made me laugh out loud and entertained me more than anything else has on this show.  That combined with the fact that Melissa forgot her lyrics and Bucky is still just awful is the only thing saving his ass for another week.

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The Shield

Sweet Lord!  I'm not sure that I can recall a show that makes my adrenaline rush more than this show.  This season has been absolutely phenomenal.  I know that the "Vic Mackey as anti-hero" meme has been played out when discussing this show, but it has never been more apparent than when contrasted against the foil of Forrest Whittaker's fantastic Kavanaugh.  Kavanaugh is the good guy, but the show has been so adept at making us love Mackey, even though he is a reprehensible human being that hating Kavanaugh, who's squeaky clean, "I'd send my wife to prison if she broke the law" stature is just too easy.  Even as Mackey is having to face the consequences of the life he's led -- the kind of cop that on any other cop show would be chastised for being the kind of police that gives everyone else a bad name -- we still want him to get away with it. There's just not enough superlatives to praise this show.

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The Sopranos

Is Tony dead or isn't he?  I was surprised at just how good this season premiere episode was.  It was tight and beautiful storytelling.

I'm sure this isn't the first time that this theory has been floated, but I came up with it on my own, so I'm writing it here for posterity's sake:  Tony is dead.  This episode was actually the episode that, if shown in chronological order, would have appeared at the "end" of the first half of this season (which HBO is breaking up into two segments, waiting 6 months or so before showing the last half, so that it really resembles two seasons but still allowing them to call it one).  The rest of the first half of this season will go back to the beginning and fill in the blanks.  In Sunday's episode, it's been 15 months since Johnny Sack got nabbed by the Feds.  Next week's episode will be what would have been the season premiere, and they'll go in chronological order up to the episode we just saw, which would have been the season "finale."  The last half of the season, next year, will the power struggle and all out war, with Johnny Sack in federal prison and Tony dead, between the Christopher led Jersey family and the Philly Lotardo led New York family.

Evidence to support my claim that Tony is dead:  Tony is dead because the whole episode was about death.  From the poem in the opening montage about the 7 souls peeling away when we die, to the constant references to Tony's demise, ("God forbid he has a coronary"), or the suicide of the never before seen top earner in the family, the theme of the episode was death.  Tony is dead as a doornail.

Evidence to support my "last episode is first" theory: Every season premiere of this show has begun with Tony walking down the driveway to get the paper.  This episode began with two Agents in a car saying (and I'm paraphrasing), "The American public is stupid.  Package it the right way, and they'll buy anything."

UPDATE:  Here is the text to the poem at the opening of the episode, which was from a William S. Burrough's piece.

The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls, Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director, He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.

Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.

Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out . . . depicted as flying away across a full moon, a bird with luminous wings and head of light. Sort of thing you might see on a screen in an Indian restaurant in Panama. The Khu is responsible for the subject and can be injured in his defense- but not permanently, since the first three souls are eternal. They go beck to Heaven for another vessel.

The four remaining souls must take their chances with the subject in the Land of the Dead. Number four is Ba, the heart, often treacherous. This is a hawk's body with your face on it, shrunk down to the size of a fist. Many a hero has been brought down, like Samson, by a perfidious Ba.

Number five is Ka, the Double, most closely associated with the subject. The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death, is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead to the western Lands.

Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory, your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.

Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.

Sunday School Lesson

Well, Colbert finally did it.  He made me laugh out loud enough to inspire a new category.  Though The Colbert Report will never be given the same sacred standing of one of Jon's Scriptural Readings, this certainly deserves a place.

During the interview with Bruce Feiler, author of "Walking the Bible", in which he, allegedly, walked to all the places mentioned in the Bible, Colbert let him in on this idea:

Stephen: I have one last question for you.  You've made a lot of money off this whole "doing things around a religion."  You've walked the Bible.  I'm thinking of doing a book called "Humping the Kama Sutra." 

South Park Solves Gay Marriage

A clip from last night's episode.

Scriptural Reading

Today's Scriptural Reading is a little different.  The Daily Show pointed out, both in its headlines and its Moment of Zen, Trent Lott's quote, when asked who the President should pick to replace Miers:

I want the president to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find.

Ok... The Trent Lott episode happened before I joined the realm of the blogger, but I know that it is one of the crowning moments which invested import upon the blogosphere.  My only point is, if you are a guy who was so decimated by a controversy surrounding some fairly racist statements, and those statements led to you losing your position of leadership within your party, priority one should be learning to talk about race without sounding like you just returned from a trip to your 1960's Alabama.

My Name is Earl

NBC re-aired the pilot episode last night, and I ran across the line when I realized that this show had a little something:

I know this might sound crazy in this day and age, but we live in a small town, and I've never been face to face with a gay before.

I understand now, the running probably wasn't necessary.

Getting Better

Incidentally...

Is it just me or is Jon Stewart getting better at the interview? It's never been his strongest suit, but he's, in the past week or two, gone up against Bill O'Reilly and Bill Kristol, certainly formidable public figures with a lot of experience in tough debates on television, and made them look... well... kinda silly.  Admittedly, Stewart's format and his quick wit allows him to sort of disarm the guest when he gets into an jam, but it also allows him to go places that the normal talking head shows can't or don't.

At any rate, he's showing some chops, lately.

Scriptural Reading

During Jon's interview with Weekly Standard editor, Bill Kristol:

Bill: But, who knows what really happened?
Jon: I think, Fitzgerald, I think he's the one.
Bill: And we'll see.  Maybe he'll decide there really wasn't a crime.
Jon: You think he may come out with no indictments?
Bill: He could.  It's not clear there was a real crime here.
Jon: Not to us... But we haven't been in the grand jury.
Bill: Right...
Jon: (pauses) Wishing it doesn't make it so.

Alias Help

So, I've just recently started watching some Alias reruns regularly on TNT, and I'm liking it more than I expected to.  The episodes I've seen are obviously late in the series, and I'm a little confused about some things.

Could someone explain what this Rimbaldi business is about?

Thanks.